“…two cups of garlic, one cup of sugar…” were words of a cooking channel that Chef Kay grew up with and would be the words to pave Chef Kay’s career future path.

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Chef Kyungmin "Kay" Hyun hails from Busan, a coastal city south of Seoul known for its fresh ocean fare. Chef Kay's roots are in Korean cuisine, but her ongoing love affair with Spanish flavor profiles and her vision of "tapas" gave birth to Mokyo, her second restaurant. Her debut restaurant -- Thursday Kitchen -- opened in 2016.

Chef Kay took New York by storm when she first arrived in 2006. She studied at the French Culinary Institute, and rose swiftly through the industry ranks. During those early years, she could be found in kitchens of fine dining establishments including Nobu Matsuhisa’s Mai House, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Jean-Georges and ABC Kitchen, as well as casual restaurants such as Stephen Starr’s Buddakan. Before she struck out on her own, she was executivechef at Kristalbelli.